With These Words

Month: October 2017

I recently disclosed that I rarely watch my favorite (DVR’d) MSNBC programs only listen to them, yesterday that policy served me well, otherwise I would have spent, The Rachel Maddow Show, The Last Word and All In, repeatedly and continuously watching the unsealed indictment story unfold with a red ‘breaking news’ banner for the life of the above programs and still I did not miss out on any of the important reported content…

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When I was in the U.S. Army stationed at Fort Jackson, I purchased a little cannabis for personal use, made the mistake of sharing some with my platoon sergeant. The next day he wanted more, offered to pay for it since he was attending a party that night, I sold him a couple of joints, he went to his party got into trouble, fingered me as a seller, my foot locker was searched as if I was some big-time pusher. His reasoning was if he offered and gave me up his charges would go away or be reduced.

Today Paul Manafort and Rick Gates indictments were unsealed in what I would like to call low hanging fruit that can be used to snare larger fish engaged in more serious wrong doing not yet charged but most certainly suspected… but give it time for other unpicked fruit to ripen on the vine…

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Broadcast News
The invention of the wheel falls into the late Neolithic, and may be seen in conjunction with other technological advances that gave rise to the early Bronze Age. Note that this implies the passage of several wheel-less millennia even after the invention of agriculture and of pottery, during the Aceramic Neolithic (9500–6500 BCE). Excerpted from Wikipedia…
Why is a post titled Broadcast News and The Wheel, starting out with a little history about the wheel, well because nobody is trying to reinvent it, it has already been invented? Not so with broadcast news, it seems every year or so after some hot shot media graduate from one of the finest universities as well as some veteran old-line media types try to do so or think they know how to, much to the annoyance of viewers like me everywhere.

The Camel News Caravan or Camel Caravan of News was a 15-minute American television news program aired by NBC News from February 14, 1949 to October 26, 1956. Sponsored by the Camel cigarette brand and anchored by John Cameron Swayze, it was the first NBC news program to use NBC filmed news stories rather than movie newsreels. Excerpted from Wikipedia…

Since 1948 Americans have been able to get some form of news via television, first from NBC, be it only a ten-minute bite, after which most felt they were will served and informed of all the news of the day. An anchor, talking head, reading the news and if available, a featured newsreel was all that was required then as well as now. Broadcast news, the wheel invented. Tune into any news program today, cable, over the air or even the internet, someone, somewhere is trying to reinvent the news to be delivered in a more pleasantly electronic manner, in my view failing with each effort. A little like placing a kid in front of a media special effects broad then watching him pushing every button, pulling every lever, in the production of a news program, when since 1948, all that was required producing a news program was a talking head and introduced recorded action footage, today some of it live, anything else is unnecessary window dressing leaving most viewers in image overload unable to comprehend in any detail the reported stories but do sit in amassment of all the gadgetry being employed like word special effects if you will, news crawls, subject banners, network corporate logos, time and temperatures along with, “God didn’t make little green apples
And it don’t rain in Indianapolis in the summertime
And there’s no such thing as Doctor Seuss”, (written by Bobby Russell) as if it’s not realized the placing of text on the screen will be read over and over in exchange of and faulting any new material, for as long as it appears sparking viewers internal question; what else can you show me? Because this is not news. Is the mention of a name prompting ten or more images of that person, excessive, in a word, yes? Will someone please explain to me how reporting the main story ‘A’ along with stories ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ in a crawl is the best use of screen space, or running a promo for another program on their network.

In conclusion, most people get their daily news from television, this blogger included, however, the trick is to know how to. There are some stories that are uniquely reported on television, what I do is mostly listen, only turning to the screen when it’s said, as you can see, or when the reported story warrants it, in open avoidance of screen clutter. The only present-day news program that is mostly clutter free is the CBS Evening News, rarely do I turn away because of excessive unnecessary crap on its the screen, try it you’re like it…

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Forty-two-year old Jeffery T. Glor has been named the next full-time anchor of the CBS Evening News, long time media watchers will be wondering if as he ages will he be allowed to gray in place, noting that if he were female the answer would be a stupendous catastrophic no, if balding would a toupee be required, the jury is out on both events, as in all things media it will all depend on the current fad at any given time and of course Jeffery himself… good luck, I’ll be watching… Oh, one more point of interest, with each new anchor comes along a new crop of producers, I love the current policy of the clean screen of the Evening News and if a lot of unnecessary subject banners with red hot blinking breaking news banners clogging up the screen are initiated, I will definitely will not be watching… and don’t even think of a news crawl… So, what the hell, good luck and good news to come… “and that’s the way it is” …

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Situated on one of the world’s largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, each of which is a separate county of New York State. The five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. Excerpted from Wikipedia…

I have lived in New York City all my life, still find it quite easy to get lost in any of its boroughs except one. Just as an example, in the borough of Queens, there is a 45th Street, a 45th Avenue, a 45th Boulevard, a 45th Way, so, if told to meet someone at Madison and 45th, begs one to ask 45th and what? Even if told finding it would still be an unpleasant chore, not so in Manhattan, all one would need to know is East or West, because its streets are laid out in a numbered grid. Which brings me to the reason for this post, ‘gerrymandering’, think of how easy it would be if voting districts were laid out in a well-organized grid, with all voters falling within a grid without regard to any political party. Instead of what we have now, voting districts drawn up by a political party hack to ensure districts remain under the influence of one party or another. Without a gerrymandered voting district, the will of the people would be better exercised based on issues instead of party affiliation on drawn numbered registrations. Candidate John Dow would be better for the district regardless of his party affiliation if voting districts were drawn up using a laid-out grid. When it comes to political cooking anyone political party can do it, it’s only when it’s in the hands of the people does it become cheffing…

“Political hack” is a negative term ascribed to a person who is part of the political party apparatus, but whose intentions are more aligned with victory than personal conviction. Again Wikipedia, my thanks…

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If televised news and information is your ‘coin of the realm’, why would you display anything on your screen that would impede that relationship between yourself and the viewer. Everything placed on your screen has to be processed, then digested, if words, processed again and again for as long as it appears, if the words have already been spoken by an anchor, what value is there in its repetition, when the desire should be the full attention of the viewer toward new news and information being dispensed not stuck in the past, which has already been spoken or displayed, adding a news crawl allows the viewer an out to be lost in a sea of overload, permanently damaging your current ‘coin of the realm’ forever and at worse permeating an escape to other stores of interest now available thanks to your stupidity, a viewer lost that may never return, if they do may do so only seeking another way out to somewhere else.

One more thing, when was the last time you watched a televised news program that did not involve dyed hair or synthetic hair? Almost never. When it involved fake blood or a staged car crash? Not yet… I thought so…

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Anyone at the height of their journalistic career to have the opportunity to anchor a television news program then appear with dyed or synthetic hair must know that their creditability is immediately called into question. Raising the question of what’s next, fake blood or staged car crashes. If one’s appearance cannot be trusted in the temple of truth showcasing integrity, then one can reasonably conclude that it’s another master that is being served there, can it be called ratings brought on by ‘appearance marketing’, defined as the manifestation of ‘appearance journalism’. ‘Fake news’ is the new catchphrase in vogue these days and yet not one word of about fakery of appearance while reporting the news, fake or otherwise. If the anchor is fifty or sixty years old, is there anything wrong looking that age kinda guaranteeing a year or two of experience reporting or must everyone look like a high schooler or lower? It’s as if a little age with appearance experience counts for nothing, seemly infantile inexperience is more desirable until the reported facts are not facts at all, faked, for the sake of ratings and marketing just like the dyed and synthetic hair practicing appearance or ‘glamour journalism’…